All My Friends

All my friends, all my friends will meet the end someday
So I sing a song for them to guide them on their way
Through the violet highs and the ochre lows
My load feels heavy most days
All my friends

I always knew and so did you that we were going to war
Years have passed I’m trying to remember who it’s for
If we reach thirty six, or if the door gets slammed
at least I know we’ve tried
for all my friends...

Marching on, the Tennessee dawn is lifting o’er the fields
Steady on, America, you know it’s time to heal
If you open your arms you’ll feel us,
warm and ready for the change all
my friends...

Gather round, girls,
lemme tell you about the crisis that is here
And at the end I almost see
I see our final victory
I know that we don’t all believe that it’ll be what it’ll be
But a crisis ‘tis indeed, like a boulder gathering speed

And if we fail to act upon it
It might mean the chance has been lost
and we will have to wait to win

It’s 1916, we’re talking war and battle cries
Oh women dry your eyes- gotta rise up and fight

You may be troubled and bewildered and stricken with grief
But you can solve it! Fix these knotty problems! Try to breathe.

‘Cause if we fail to act upon it
It might mean the chance has been lost
and we will have to wait to win

oh America look up at that north star- one day it’ll come down
the time has come to shout aloud
in every city and village and town
the woman’s hour has struck
the woman’s hour is now

there was a man in west virginia
and someone asked him what he thought
he said “we’ve been keeping women down so long it would feel so queer to not”
if someone asked his wife the same question and here is what she’d say “we’ve been down so long we gotta stay this way”
therein lies the movement of those who say NAY

Oh America look up the star is getting nearer
It’s time to shout aloud to everybody who can hear us
The woman’s hour has struck the woman’s hour is now
The woman’s hour is here

Carrie- I got your missive and I’m with you girl
I welcome the opportunity to say that I agree:
The time is nigh for your admission to the suffrage

The services of women during this crisis
Must be repaid, lead ya to paradise
It’s over there

Carrie- as for this country I only hope
That the senate will give an answer,
Unmistakably making you able to use your voice
and cast a ballot

If they pass this amendment to our constitution
We are gonna be talking about revolution
It’s over there...

We need you in our vision of affairs-
your skills are beyond all compare
You got sympathy and insight-
your shoulders bear the weight of the world

The women of our country fair have beating hearts
and dirt in their hair
We gotta show them that we trust them
as much as we need them now
Do it now!

Carrie- I see you standing on the precipice
I begging of you, keep fighting for true justice
and you’ll find the the laws of the land
will soon be in your favor

I am telling you this is a war measure
We can’t win the Great War without this treasure

Womenkind! Womenfolk!
We’re not wheels without spokes!
Let them vote, let them vote,
Let them vote!

When I look in the glass I can see you there
I can see you around my eyes
So I follow the star in the eastern sky
coloring the horizon

With the moon in your teeth like a piece of cheese
Crumbling everywhere
And you’re gathering kindling and blackberries
You send up your gilded flare

I know whichever way the wind blows you’re gonna face it
Stand tall you can be someone to follow- you’re gonna make it

On the night you were born I cradled you
I held you in my arms
And with every planet in Capricorn
I knew you’d sound the alarm

Always fighting the good fight, baby
Picking up whoever’s down
You’re giving them words for their weaponry
You wear the mother of exile’s crown

I know whichever way the wind blows you’re gonna face it
Stand tall you can be someone to follow- you’re gonna make it
I know whichever way the wind blows you’re gonna face it
Stand tall you can be someone to follow- you’re gonna make it

Ain’t it easy to see me
My petticoats shine like mary’s
Tried to lose the lamb on the way
Don’t give them anything to laugh about

I’m a full grown woman
Keep my chin held high
Farewell, old Charles City
I’ll give you something to talk about

Oh when’s it gonna be the right time?
Be the right time
For me

I feel my power growing
Blood pulsing under thick skin
I’m gonna move a mountain baby
That’ll give them something to think about

Oh when’s it gonna be the right time?
Be the right time
For me

I’ll go to San Francisco
Where the cool air goes down easy
The golden gates swing open
Will you miss me when I’m gone?

Oh when’s it gonna be the right time?
Be the right time
For me

Here in the dark
Everything that once was becomes a tiny spark
Looking back from the next century
What will they see?

The names of the girls who laid the stones
Names long forgotten- never scribbled in tomes
They were strong and indestructible
Their hearts were full

Now the edifice of women’s liberty
It is almost complete
But protected and serene the rich women are still
Honing their malevolent skills
Growing bolder in their treachery
Selling for free

There are those who are willing to vilify
Their sisters ‘cross the land- they declare them too quick to cry
Saying don’t trust them with the privilege
Don’t even try

Will we ever be ready for a victory?
Or sit and watch the country as it bleeds?

The enemies of our cause they try to stop us
But before the vote is won,
we can’t leave the fight to the daughters of our daughters
So we go into the fray, shoulders bare, feel the fire and liberate

Women in schools and counting houses, in shops and on the farm they’re all around us
They got babies crying at their breasts, sun sinks in the west

The veins of these women are not filled with milk and water
These are mothers of bold American daughters
They are not afraid. They’re lying in wait

Listening for the bugle call to send them in
Suffrage is the only way to end.

The enemies of our cause they try to stop us
But before the vote is won, we can’t leave the fighting to the daughters of our daughters
So we go into the fray, shoulders bare, take the punches to our faces
Feel the fire In our bones, and liberate

When will we be ready for the victory?
Will we ever be ready for the victory?

What is the democracy for which the world is battling
for which we offer up our man power, woman power,
money power, our all?

The world does not wait for such as these
nor does liberty pause to heed the complaints of
man or woman.
She does not wait for those
who have a special interest to serve,
nor a selfish reason for depriving other people of freedom.

Holding her torch high
Lady Liberty points onward and upward says “America, come.”

(Holding her torch high... America!)

Suffrage is coming -- you know it

Some of you are old I know
Are you willing that those who take your place might blame you for not keeping pace?
Is there any gain for you, or gain for the nation to delay?
Don’t drive us away, don’t wait...

What is the democracy for which the world is battling
and for which we offer up our man power, woman power,
money power, our all?

Once in a lifetime
The power is ours
But we’d rather stare at our phones

Talking about nothing
Heads in the clouds
Might as well leave it alone

If I could change a mind, whose mind?
If I could make something to get us o’er the finish line

America’s bleeding
We’re watching her die
Fire and blood on the screens

Her headlights receding
She’s waving goodbye
Curtain comes down on the scene

Holding her torch high,
Stumbling below
Luck be a lady tonight

Ships in the shadows
Heavy laden with gold
See how they catch the light

If I could change a mind, whose mind?
If I could make something to get us o’er the finish line
We’re living in hard times, feeling hard times, living in hard times

Became a mother
Trying to figure it out
But everything fills me with dread

What will we leave her?
Words stick in my mouth
And I hear your voice in my head

What is this democracy?
Carrie I fear that we’ve made our beds

If I could change a mind, whose mind?
If I could make something to get us o’er the finish line
We’re living in hard times, feeling hard times, these are hard times

William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel, society gath'rin'
And the cops were called in, and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder
But you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face, now ain't the time for your tears
William Zanzinger, who at 24 years, owns a tobacco farm of 600 acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling
In a matter of minutes, on bail was out walkin'
But you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face, now ain't the time for your tears
Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen
She was 51 years old and gave birth to 10 children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger
And you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face, now ain't the time for your tears
In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished
And handed out strongly for penalty and repentance
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence

Oh, but you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears
Bury the rag deep in your face for now's the time for your tears